“What is this, a master class?”

  Hakim mocked the meeting. Azekel had called it as a matter of urgency, although nothing urgent had happened a day after President Ojwang's public pronouncement.

  "We need to refine our plans. The leaders of the criminal factions have decided to support us during the invasion."

  “Just like that, without the slightest resistance or quid pro quo?”

  Fadala smiled a little, blew the gray smoke out of his flared nostrils and said:

  “I was very insistent with the stubborn ones.”

  The calmness with which the hitman said this made the sage shiver. That strange alliance with Ilê Apanyan and the local gangs had him worried. He trusted Feruzi and Azekel, but not the others.

  “All right, spit it out, then.”

  “Son, please explain to them what you've told me.”

  Adisa sniffled. She knew she would be entering difficult terrain once again. Regardless of the criticism from the audience, she had to speak her mind.

  “Did you notice that in Ojwang's speech, Gahiji's name wasn't mentioned at any point?”

  Ekundayo slammed his closed fist into the palm of his other hand. Adisa's observation was right. There was a good guess there.

  “He felt the blow.”

  "That's right, losing one of his best soldiers weakened the man. He didn't look well at all when he spoke for NeTV."

  Hakim crossed his arms. He didn't want to be a pessimist, but killing one of the Phalanx's generals didn't eliminate the rest of the threat. Ojwang still had many cards up his sleeve. He had the support of public opinion and the state apparatus to protect himself. The Cyber Troops, in addition to the war power they possessed, could launch Ofó.

  Feruzi had noticed the absence of Gahiji's death in his enemy's speech. Ojwang was too clever to show a moment of weakness like that. Gahiji was a general much loved by the people of Ilu Nla, considered a war hero. Hiding the fact showed concern, if not external, at least internal.

  “Don't overestimate the fact, my dear Adisa.”

  "I'm not being hasty, Mr. Feruzi. I've been by Ojwang's side long enough to know how he thinks."

  “He still has the upper hand.”

  “That advantage can be turned in our favor.”

  “In what way?”

  Adisa took a piece of pemba and started scratching on the wall in the background. They were algorithmic formulas and mathematical calculations that were strange to those watching.

  Hakim, already impatient with Adisa's monologue, asked him to explain his plan.

  “The key to defeating the Cyber Troops of Ilu Nla is the Núclo-Axé.”

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “How are you going to do that?”

  “I created the Axé-Core…”

  “Don't brag so much, it killed a lot of your compatriots.”

  “In partnership with Yerodin.”

  Hakim remained sepulchrally silent. The Sage of the Law never wanted to believe that his best friend was involved in the fall of the mediums. It was a way of protecting his childhood memories. But it was true, Yerodin, as much as Adisa, was responsible for all the misery that had befallen his class.

  For the sage, this in no way exempted the scientist from his guilt, or clouded the good memories he had of his late friend. For him, Yerodin would always be an example of sage. Brave enough to give his life for the good of his country, even though he would go down in history as a traitor.

  “Yes, unfortunately, he and I are complicit in this, I'm sorry to have to say that, Hakim.”

  “Forget it, get to the point.”

  “All right, I'll explain the nature of the Axé Core…”

  With effort, Adisa tried to simplify the concept of the Axé-Core as much as possible. It had been born out of her long-held aspirations to use electromagnetism as a clean, renewable, non-polluting, self-generated and low-cost energy source.

  The Axé-Core consisted of an implant connected to one of the person's Inner Portals. The vibrations of the portals would charge the Axé-Core's battery to the limit, dissipating the rest of the accumulated energy after the limit. The first human tests resulted in catastrophic failures.

  Non-mediums found it very difficult to generate enough vibrations to energize the Axé-Core to its full capacity, and mediums overheated the cores. The possibility of creating such a technology was not unfeasible. Based on the Spiritual Keys of the Sages, Ojwang asked Adisa to use the Ori Guardians as the Axé Core battery.

  “What a sacrilege!”

  Ekundayo couldn't help it. The others shared his indignation. But they continued to listen to Adisa.

  “The level of compatibility between user and implant has reached its peak.”

  Akachi scratched his head and grimaced. He listened without understanding anything. The whole explanation was too complicated for her.

  “But how do they use Ofó?”

  "Through zimbas, my son. Yeorodin and I transformed the Ofó statements into algorithmic models. Each Ofó became an instruction within a program."

  Spin Bomb's jaw dropped. If his understanding was correct, the scientist had turned ancient magic into software.

  "Wow, that bugged my mind! Sorry, I thought too loud."

  "It's true, Spin Bomb, it's incredible, but I never imagined it would be used militarily. Ojwang stole my files and kidnapped me with other scientists. After demonstrating the functionality of the technology, I became a prisoner of his selfish desires."

  Adisa stated that he had built a large part of the system and knew how to take it down. He would implant a virus in the central system that controls the military's Axé-Core remotely. At least he could weaken them and get the Cyber Troops out of the way.

  Hakim was skeptical. Ojwang was already expecting a counter-attack, Adisa knew the system well. He could have changed the passwords and even increased the cyber defenses of the central system.

  "Ojwang must have prepared for the worst, Adisa. He must even have transferred the system to another internet network."

  "The Ilu Nla Armed Forces Intranet was coordinated by me. I know all the rabbit holes there, so it won't be difficult for me to break in. To do this, I need a terminal with an encrypted overline connection."

  “I can get one for you.”

  Fadala said with resolution in his voice. Hakim whistled and sneered:

  “Are you going to buy it at Shopee?”

  “No, our allies in the criminal underworld have some very interesting things in their warehouses.”

  Feruzi lit his pipe. One of the problems was almost solved. But there were still two concerns, these inescapable.

  “Will this work for the Phalanx too?”

  "I don't have enough information for that. I didn't design the generals' Axé-Cores. Ojwang and Jitujeusi perfected my models. I don't think they're connected to the central monitoring system. It would be dangerous if there was an invasion and the Phalanx had their implants remotely controlled or damaged."

  The threat posed by Generals Luena and Jitujeusi could not be measured in its entirety. Akachi noticed something important in his father's sentence.

  “Father, is General Jitujeusi a scientist like you?”

  "Yes, he operated in the shadows of my research. I had heard of a supposed military engineer who supervised my research from a distance. I'd never seen him in person until the fateful day he came to you to steal the Spiritual Key of Faith."

  “He looks pretty dangerous.”

  The Sage of Justice, interested in information that could help defeat the enemy, asked Adisa:

  “You've been at Ojwang's side for a long time, give us as much information as you can about the generals of the Phalanx.”

  Adisa sat back in his chair. He was tired from the conversation. Bad memories were taking over his mind.

  "I know little, but I hope it's enough. The generals of the Phalanx possess a special technique unique to their Axé-Cores. It's called Alteration of Grandeur. General Luena becomes invisible, just as her Phalangites called Nebulas can camouflage themselves in real time on the battlefield. Real chameleons."

  “What about Jitujeusi?”

  "He can control gravity. I don't know and have never seen his Phalangites."

  "He controls gravity, does he? I'd like to talk to him about that."

  Hakim gave a mischievous smile. Adisa understood the sage's rage. Jitujeusi had murdered Yerodin. This had led to a growing conflict between mediums and non-mediums. The man would not forgive the general.